The Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division is investigating after a man whom police restrained, handcuffed and placed on his side on a stretcher this week in Baltimore became unresponsive and later died.
At about 4:20 p.m. on Tuesday, the Baltimore City Fire Department and Maryland Transit Administration Police responded to the 200 block of South Howard Street, near the Baltimore Convention Center and Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Someone called 911 about a man who was lying in the middle of the street, the attorney general’s office reported, trying to kill himself and “fighting people.”
Baltimore Police then arrived. Body camera video shows MTA Police speaking with the man, who was acting erratically, the attorney general’s office stated.
Officers restrained the man, put him in handcuffs and placed him on his side on a stretcher. Emergency medical personnel and police then strapped him to it. First responders started providing medical aid after he was loaded into an ambulance.
The man became unresponsive after several minutes. Police removed the handcuffs while emergency medical personnel tried to save his life. He died hours later at the hospital, the attorney general’s office reported.
Law enforcement has not released his name.
In Maryland, the attorney general’s office investigates all cases involving police officers in which people die or experience injuries that are likely to result in death. Lawmakers have approved a measure giving the agency the power to prosecute officers in these cases.
The Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner performed an autopsy. The cause and manner of death are pending.
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